Woman dead in Ireland: Parents demand new abortion laws

Belgaum (Karnataka) Parents of Savita Halappanavar, who died in an Irish hospital after doctors reportedly declined to abort her foetus on the ground that Ireland is Catholic country, Thursday sought changes in Irish law to prevent such tragedies.

Her parents, Andaneppa Yalagi and Mahadevi, told reporters in this north Karnataka town, about 400 km from Bangalore, that the Indian government must also impress upon Ireland to change its law banning abortions.

"The law should be changed to avoid recurrence of incidents like our daughter's death," they said.

Savita, 31, a dentist who hailed from Belgaum and was working in Ireland, died of septicaemia Oct 28.

Savita Hallapanavar. Pic courtesy IBNLive.

She had gone to Galway University Hospital Oct 21 complaining of back pain and she was found to be miscarrying at 17 weeks.

Mahadevi said if the doctors at the hospital, who had been asked several times by Savita to terminate the pregnancy as she had a miscarriage, had acted on the request, "my daughter would have survived".

She said Savita was told that Ireland is a Catholic country where abortion is illegal.

While Irish authorities have launched a probe, Indian has expressed concern and said it was waiting for the results of the enquiry.

Savita's husband, Praveen Halappanavar, who works at Boston Scientific in Galway, has said he would go back soon and continue to fight for justice for his wife.

He had brought Savita's body back to her hometown for funeral which took place Nov 3.